16 May 2019
Resumed my jogging along Chicago River as the River Walk had been opened.
Just a gentleman doing some fishing before heading to work
Headed to 47th station on the red line to meet up with Cristy.
Then went over to Sermak-Chinatown station, which was an easier place to be picked up by Cristy.
Chicago Public Library Chinatown Branch
Chinatown - again, so near yet so far
Chinese American Veterans Memorial
Arrived at Metropolitan Family Services North Center
Complimentary vocational training programmes
Guard and Discard to prevent drug abuse
Roxanne Nava, Executive Director of Metropolitan Family Services North Center and Evanston/Skokie Valley Center, led us to a tour of the premises.
Children's Waiting Room
Childcare services for two to five years old
Curriculum for early childhood education in the Center
Student setting up the table for lunch
Blogpost title dedicated to this impactful quote
We were hosted to lunch and had the chance to dialogue with staff handling the various programmes. Roxanne was helpful in inviting them to share personal stories and impact of their work.
Denise and Nowami shared about their work in preventing substance abuse, through youth practice. They work with youth advisory committees in Chicago Public Schools to empower youths to impact the community. They also run family workshops and educate youths in opioid and marijuana prevention. I asked about the challenges with the impending bid to legalise marijuana, to which they shared that efforts have been made to step up the awareness of the harmful effects of marijuana.
On domestic violence work, Metropolitan Family Services works with young children to teenagers on maintaining healthy relationships; provides a safe place and conducts psychoeducation. Victims of domestic violence could sometimes be oblivious about their plight and upon conversations with case workers, realised that they were subjected to domestic violence. Staff also work with victims to develop safety plans, such as saving help numbers under a different contact name in their phone address books.
On adoption preservation, Metropolitan Family Services organises Family Night events to build social capital among adopted families. In these events, it ensures that there are a separate activities that cater to the parents, teens and children. There are individual therapy sessions for adopted children and adolescents from 5 to 17 years old, as well as family therapy sessions.
Jasline and Veronica shared about their work in enhancing mental health for families, especially zooming in on mental health of children, infants up to age 5 years old. Parents are guided on how to soothe their stressed children, as observed from their facial expression and tone. I was particularly curious about the identification of depression in babies. They shared that babies who were suffering from depression might not be responsive to cues. Metropolitan Family Services also conducts home-based programmes, promote maternal mental health as well as conduct child-parent psychotherapy sessions.
In a separate programme, Metropolitan Family Services staff conduct weekly home visits to first-time Mums, to provide them support and prepare them for motherhood.
Alexis Greathouse, Site Director for Metropolitan Family Services North Children's Center shared that educators also conduct general observation in class to identify children who might be affected by mental health issues. She also shared that the North Children's Center provides all year round childcare services to 2 to 5-year-olds from low-income households.
Joyce, a support staff, shared her experience interacting with clients and registering them when they enter the premises. Each staff plays a part in ensuring a positive and empowering experience for
Roxanne was formerly from the private sector and used to work with entrepreneurs. She shared she found meaning in what Metropolitan Family Services is doing, which is to resolve things that are holding people back from what they could otherwise do. It's not about "we" and "them", because at the end of the day we are all the same. It's just that some might lack the information to get to the next destination.
After lunch, Roxanne brought me around to introduce to staff which were not able to join us for lunch. Truly appreciate the time and effort. It must have taken us about 1-2 more hours.
Learnt about Illinois Worknet, a resource portal for jobseekers, community partners and employers; as well as Parenting Fundamentals from Katharine Bensinger who founded the programme in 1996. Parenting Fundamentals is a set of evidence-based parenting curriculum.
To ensure privacy, white noise machines are placed to soundproof the room during meeting with clients
Staff Lounge
With Executive Director Roxanne Nava (right) and Cristy (next to Roxanne)
Metropolitan Family Services advocated for this traffic signage with the ward's Alderman
"This is private property reserved for patrons while shopping only at Metropolitan Family Services"
:p
It was insightful to see how Metropolitan Family Services adopts an integrated approach to strengthening families by bringing all available resources to help them.
Back at our corporate housing, we finally got to cook our salmon and fish fillet bought from H-Mart since our first day in Chicago.
Topping up with The Tonight Dough
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